New openers

Opener Installation Matched to Your Door

Since July 1, 2019, no automatic opener may be sold or installed in a California home unless it has a battery backup that keeps it working when the power goes out. Every new opener we fit carries one.

Garage door opener head unit and rail mounted between insulated ceiling joists

The rules

What does California require of a new opener?

Three things, in practice. It needs a built-in battery backup, the state rule that began July 1, 2019. It needs the entrapment protection every home opener built since 1993 must have: a reverse that starts within 2 seconds of hitting an obstruction, plus a second device, usually photo eyes, that the opener checks on every close. And the person fitting it should prove the reverse on a rigid 2-inch object, the test California sets for anyone servicing an opener. Owners of older units in Santa Clarita often find their opener meets none of the three.

Drive types

Which drive suits your garage?

For most garages under a bedroom, a belt drive; for a busy, heavy door, a chain; for a high ceiling you want clear, a wall-mount jackshaft on a torsion-spring door.

Drive	How it moves	Noise	Ceiling rail	Good fit
Chain	Roller chain pulls the trolley	Louder	Yes	Heavy or busy doors, tight budgets
Belt	Reinforced belt pulls the trolley	Quietest overhead type	Yes	Garages beside or under bedrooms
Screw	Threaded steel rod moves the trolley	Moderate	Yes	Mild climates; its maker warns against big temperature swings
Wall-mount (jackshaft)	Turns the torsion shaft from beside the door	Quiet	None	High ceilings, storage racks, torsion-spring doors only

On every install

Fitted to the door you have

An opener only steers the door; the springs carry its weight. So before a new unit goes up in a Santa Clarita garage we check that the door is balanced and moves freely by hand, because a fresh motor on a heavy, binding door wears out early. Then we hang it, wire the sensors and set force and travel to that door.

Door balance checked first
Battery backup on every unit
Photo eyes 4 to 6 inches
Wall button out of reach
Red release within reach
Old opener hauled away

Inside a garage: ceiling opener, its rail running to a sectional door with windows, and the side tracks

Valley weather

Why does inland heat shape the choice?

Because a Santa Clarita garage lives through a wide temperature range. The Saugus weather station records a 36.0 F average January low and a 94.3 F average August high, a swing of roughly 58 F, against about 31 F at the coast in Oxnard. Genie, which sells screw drives, advises against them where seasons swing hard, so we steer most homes toward belt or chain units instead. Heat also wears on the backup battery, and LiftMaster puts the life of its built-in battery at one to two years with normal use. Our installs cover the full job: removing the old unit, mounting the rail or wall unit, sensors, wall button, keypad, remotes and phone setup.

Belt, chain, jackshaft Battery backup fitted Phone control set up Old unit removed

Aerial view of a reservoir among folded brown foothills in low evening light

New opener numbers

July 1, 2019

California battery backup rule begins

2 seconds

Most time before a door must start reversing

5 ft

Lowest height for the wall button

14 million

People using the myQ app daily

Sources: Cal. Health and Safety Code 19892; 16 CFR 1211.7; DASMA TDS-167; Chamberlain Group

Start to finish

How a new opener goes in

Tell us

Share the door size if you know it, whether it has torsion springs above the opening, how high the ceiling is, and whether a bedroom sits nearby.

Pick a drive

We look at the door and garage, suggest the drive that fits, and give you a written price for the unit and the labor before ordering.

Book it

We set a date that suits you, anywhere in Santa Clarita, and arrive with the opener, rail, brackets and wiring for that garage.

Hand over

We cycle the door several times, test the reverse, pair your remotes, keypad and phone, and show you the release handle before we go.

Repairs and installs

Garage door work in Santa Clarita

Six kinds of garage door jobs, each on its own page with the parts involved, the warning signs and what a visit looks like.

Single-story ranch house with a white two-car steel garage door at the end of a curved drive

Spring Repair

A snapped torsion or extension spring, a door that weighs a ton by hand, or a gap in the coil above the opening.

Opener Repair

Openers that hum without lifting, reverse for no reason, ignore the remote or stop halfway up the track.

Opener Installation

Chain, belt, screw and wall-mount openers fitted to the door you have, with the battery backup California requires.

New Door Installation

Steel, wood-look, carriage-style and glass sectional doors measured, hung, balanced and sealed in one job.

Track and Cable Repair

A frayed or slack lift cable, a roller out of the track, a crooked door or a bent section of rail.

Insulation and Seals

Insulated door options, new bottom rubber, side and top seals for garages that bake in a valley summer.

Choosing an opener

The drive type and the options you add move the number, and we give you a written price after seeing the door.

If a bedroom or living space sits above or next to the garage, usually yes, since both LiftMaster and Genie market belt drives as their quietest ceiling-mounted option. For a detached garage, a chain unit lifts just as well and is the cheaper, more common type.

No, a jackshaft opener drives the torsion shaft directly, so the door needs torsion springs mounted above the opening.

If you want to open, close or check the door from your phone, yes. Chamberlain Group says over 14 million people use its myQ app every day, and many current LiftMaster and Chamberlain models include it.

Yes, both, along with Genie. LiftMaster and Chamberlain come from the same parent company, and for Santa Clarita homes we pick the model that fits the door rather than a brand.

Price and setup

LiftMaster says the battery inside its integrated units usually lasts one to two years, depending on use.

Often, yes. Since July 1, 2019, California has barred connecting a replacement door to an existing opener that lacks a battery backup, however old the opener is. If yours has no backup, the two jobs go together; see our garage door installation page for the door side.

If the fault is a sensor, a remote or a single worn part, a repair is usually the better buy. Our garage door opener repair page covers those fixes; we suggest replacement when the unit lacks photo eyes or keeps failing.

In sight of the door, clear of moving parts and at least five feet above the floor, which is what DASMA's inspection checklist calls for, so small children cannot reach it.

We take it down and haul it away from your Santa Clarita home, unless you ask to keep it.

Ready for a new opener? Tell us about the door

Call and describe the door

(661) 219-7632

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Sunday-Thursday 6:30 AM-11:30 PM, Friday 6 AM-3:45 PM